Thursday, February 11, 2010

This New Road

"One of the things so astonishing and costly about losing a loved one is that, while the sun continues to rise and set, newspapers continue to be delivered, traffic lights still change from red to green and back again, our whole life is turned around, turned upside down.

Is it any wonder we feel disoriented, confused? yet the people we pass on the street are going about their business as though no one's world has been shaken to the core, as though the earth has not opened and swallowed us up, dropped us into a world of insecurity and change.

It will take us time to learn to walk this new road. Time, and a lot of help, so we don't stumble and fall irretrievably. Those who have had their own experiences of loss will probably be our most helpful guides - knowing when to say the right word, when to be silent and walk beside us, when to reach out and take our hand. In time, we will be helpers for others.

I have entered a new country. I will be patient with myself. I will look for companions of the way."

Healing after Loss - Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief by Martha Whitmore Hickman

Today my heart is heavy...another family is just starting down this new road and will bury their son today. This is a special family to me, who were in Toronto hospital while we were there, and helped make my time there so much more bearable. I got a kick out of how Ethan loved to compare tubes and meds with Noah. My thoughts are prayers are with you today and in the days ahead.

Another beautiful spirit gone so soon...another backpack left at the pearly gates...

http://www2.caringbridge.org/canada/ethanjakob/index.htm